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Reactions of restaurant patrons at EarlsTin Palace Edmonton range from giddy to grateful as the restaurant embraces phase one of the Alberta government’s move to re-open the economy.

“Exhilarating,” was how Jim Gislason described the experience as he and his wife, Diane Gislason, enjoyed Cajun chicken and ribs Wednesday at the flagship Jasper Ave. outlet, one of five city Earls that opened late last week (West Edmonton Mall and Campus locations are still locked up).

Patrons rejoice as Earls staff dons masks during phase one re-openingBack to video

The provincial government has said restaurants can open at 50 per cent capacity, even on the patio, as long as strict protocols are followed, including the use of rolled silverware and scoured menus.

Guests entering Earls are asked to sanitize their hands at the entrance, where a sign outlines pandemic protocols, including the wearing of masks by all staff, who undergo temperature checks before entering the restaurant. Though masks prevent the toothy greeting generally enjoyed by customers at the host desk, diners interviewed by the Journal were not complaining.

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Diane Gislason was teary at finally getting to eat in a restaurant.

“It made me realize how happy it makes me to be out and seeing other people who are real, and not virtual,” she says.

“I was in restaurant withdrawal,” says customer Shane Kennedy, who was enjoying a glass of bubbly on the patio at Earls Tin Palace, where the open air made him feel comfortable and safe.

Kennedy loves the restaurant culture in Edmonton and said he considers fellow diners members of his community.

“We go to a restaurant and see our friends over and over again,” says Kennedy, who was at Earls with his friend, Robert Jones. “It gives us a sense of belonging.”

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While Earls chief operating officer, Craig Blize, was also pleased to see Earls restaurants opening in Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba, he stressed that restaurants — even big chains like Earls, with 66 outlets in Canada and the U.S. — can’t cope for long at 50 per cent capacity.

“We’re exited, but we need to get to 100 per cent capacity,” he said in a phone call from Vancouver. “The industry can only survive at 100 per cent capacity. We have to get there as soon as possible…

“Our first priority is keeping everybody safe and our second is to grow the business.”

As restaurants move through the next phases of re-opening the economy, The Journal will talk to restaurateurs, big and small, about how they cope under trying circumstances. The Glass Monkey, a Lendrum-area gastropub, was profiled May 8.

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On March 17, Earls laid off all but 500 of its 7,000 staff.

“We realized right away we had to create new channels to pay the rent and keep (some) employees working,” says Blize of those early, hectic days.

He says Earls looked for “pain points in the marketplace.”

“There were lineups in grocery stores. People were afraid, and there were empty shelves,” says Blize. “We had a supply chain and a distribution centre and we realized right away ‘what if we sold our steaks and protein kits?'”

Earls also had ready access to in-demand items, such as toilet paper, yeast and flour. So they gathered those essentials and started delivering them to customers (who got a 20 per cent discount if they picked them up).

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Now that grocery store shelves have filled again, the demand for those staple items has declined. But Blize says some of their innovations have proven popular, and will be kept as part of the Earls business model.

Selections such as Earls protein packs — $110 worth of rib racks, burger patties, steaks and salmon filets — will continue to be offered. Chef Kits, such as a four-pizza kit for $25 and a $10 chocolate chip cookie kit, have also been snapped up. Now, Blize said they are looking at putting signature food items into grocery stores including Save-On-Foods.

Cocktail kits have been “a huge hit,” says Blize, and so long as government regulators continue to allow off-sales at restaurants, Earls will continue to sell them.

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Ben Alvarez and Kat Sieg enjoy a drink at Earls Bar and Kitchen on Jasper Ave. Edmonton restaurants were allowed to reopen as part of the first phase of Alberta’s COVID-19 relaunch. David Bloom/PostmediaDavid Bloom/Postmedia

Still, Blize notes that pre-COVID-19, sales at Earls were trending up. Takeout and third-party delivery for menu items and pantry staples has provided only 25 to 30 per cent of pre-pandemic sales.

Government programs such as the wage subsidy have helped the chain survive, and Blize hopes to get back to full staffing levels within about six months. But that depends entirely on how governments allow restaurants to return to something like normal.

Re-arranging the restaurants to deal with regulations including six-metre distance is not that hard, said Blize. Only one cook walks into a cooler at a time. Staff have meetings outside, and hand sanitization is everywhere.

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“You have a floor plan and rearrange as necessary. That’s the easy part,” says Blize. “The hard part is running a business at 50 per cent capacity when you’ve signed a square-footage deal at 100 per cent capacity.”

Earls diners on Jasper Ave. are also anxious to see culinary life return to robust levels. Happy hour customers Ben Alvarez and Kat Sieg say that even before COVID-19, people were “too distant.”

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